2026 Hacker Summer Camp Field Guide
What I’m bookmarking across BSides Las Vegas, Black Hat, DEF CON, and the week around them
Welcome to The Cybersecurity Pulse (TCP)! I’m Darwin Salazar, Head of Growth at Monad and former detection engineer at Datadog. Each week, I bring you the latest security innovation and industry news. Subscribe to receive weekly updates! 📧
If you’re anything like me, this week is pure chaos in the best and worst ways. Next week, many of us (about 30-40K) will be descending on Las Vegas for our annual Hacker Summer Camp pilgrimmage. This will be my eighth Hacker Summer Camp. I’ve experienced it as a college student, full-time practitioner, DEF CON workshop instructor, and now from the GTM and newsletter side.
If this is your first hacker summer camp or if you’d simply like to get in the spirit, check out this cool documentary the captures the originating ethos of the week very well:
Now, here’s my quick braindump of what I’m most excited about, a few practical tips, and where you can find me Monday through Friday.
The four things at the top of my list
CISO Roast
The CISO Roast is the main event for me. Probably because I’ll get to see two of my friends (Ashish and Yonesy) roast each other on a big stage or probably because roasting was a core part of the culture I grew up in. Or is it because the CISO role is so demanding and high-stakes that nobody would dare roast one unless they’ve sat in the chair themselves? Feels almost taboo to roast a CISO, you know what I mean?
Ashish Rajan, former CISO and host of the Cloud Security Podcast and AI Security Podcast, will be running the show. The people entering the hot seat:
Derek Chamorro is Head of Security at Together AI, with more than 20 years of infrastructure security experience across Together AI and Cloudflare.
Emily O’Carroll is a Field CISO at GuidePoint Security. She previously spent nearly a decade building the security program at Topgolf Callaway Brands after an earlier decade advising Fortune 50 companies at KPMG.
Yonesy Núñez is the CISO of Surf AI, a six-time CISO, board director, and named inventor on four U.S. patents. His previous stops include DTCC, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Jack Henry.
That is a lot of collective security experience volunteering to become material for Ashish. No pressure! :)
The roast happens Wednesday at 7 p.m. at The Barbershop inside The Cosmopolitan.
The Monad x TCP events
I helped put these together, so I’m obviously biased, but I’m genuinely excited about all three, especially the SecOps sunset social which will probably have the best photo opps from the entire week:
The Morning Burn on Tuesday from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. A guided full-body workout followed by breakfast burritos. All fitness levels are welcome.
The SecOps Sunset Social on Tuesday from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. A small group of security leaders, detection engineers, and SecOps operators riding the High Roller 550 feet above Vegas. The event is currently full, but the waitlist is open.
The Wurst Security Party on Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. at Hofbräuhaus. German food, custom beer steins, a stein-holding competition, and plenty of security practitioners and leaders.
The Monad team will also have a private meeting suite at the Four Seasons from Monday through Thursday. If you want to talk security data, SIEM architecture, or simply catch up, schedule time through the link or DM me!
Black Hat Startup Spotlight
There are two competitions happening Tuesday.
The Black Hat USA Startup Spotlight runs from 11:05 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. inside the Innovators & Investors Summit. Four startups will compete:
Deception Check builds adaptive AI honeypots that capture attacker behavior.
Mallory maps live threat intelligence against your attack surface to show what actually affects you.
Opnova brings identity governance to legacy and disconnected applications.
Perpetual Systems is building agentic detection and security analytics on a customer-owned data lake.
The winner advances directly into the inaugural Global Startup Spotlight Competition from 5:30 to 6:40 p.m. on the Business Hall Main Stage.
They will compete against four regional champions:
Legion Security for agentic security operations
Sahl for AI-powered GRC and compliance
Geordie AI for AI agent visibility and governance
Prowler for open-source cloud security
The U.S. competition requires an Innovators & Investors Summit pass. The global final is accessible from the Business Hall.
If you are attending the summit, I also have these sessions circled:
The Market Entry Strategy for Cybersecurity with Jacques Benkoski
RIP the Moat; Long Live the Moat with Robert Hansen, Rishi Bhargava, Robby Robson, and Zach Yarmolovich
VC Horror Stories with Chenxi Wang, Taylor Margot, Aziz Gilani, and Travis McPeak
I plan to catch both competitions.
Decibel GameDay
Decibel GameDay is a one-day mini-event happening Tuesday at Libertine Social inside Mandalay Bay. There will be company launches, informal networking, and a pretty stacked group of guests.
The three conversations I’m most curious about:
Richard Sherman on defense. A Super Bowl cornerback talking preparation, communication, and reading an offense in a room full of cybersecurity people could be ridiculous or excellent. I’m betting excellent.
Kevin Mandia on the next phase of cyber defense. He has seen several generations of the security industry from the front row and is now building Armadin.
Rob Joyce on sophisticated adversaries. The former NSA cyber director recently joined OpenAI as a safety and security advisor and brings a perspective that is difficult to replicate.
HD Moore and Elias Manousos are also part of the lineup. Formal session titles have not been published, but the guest list alone makes this worth watching.
A few tips for winning the week
Leave room for serendipity
Don’t book yourself from AM to PM. There are a lot of unique events and people. Do cool shit and be nice to everyone.
Respect everyone’s bandwidth
If you are a security leader, your DMs, texts, and email are probably already flooded. If you work in GTM, Black Hat can become a five-day sprint.
Keep outreach short. Explain why you want to meet. Make it easy for people to say yes, no, or catch you another time.
Take recovery seriously
My best non-obvious recommendation is to make time for Lapis Spa at Fontainebleau. It is truly world-class. Top 3 fav spas I’ve ever been to.
The facility includes vitality pools, an event sauna, steam room, infrared sauna, Himalayan salt room, heated chairs, cold plunges, etc
A few hours there can send you back home in a better state than you arrived in.
Also, hydrate. Vegas is a desert.
Booth stops worth making
Jam with Yonesy
Surf AI is turning booth 4711 into The Surf Spa, with complimentary 10-minute wellness sessions throughout the week.
Our friend, Yonesy, will also be doing live acoustic jam sessions at select times. If you hear a guitar somewhere in the Business Hall, follow it. He is a Bachata legend in the making.
Matcha ice cream at Clover
Our friends and sponsors at Clover Security will be at booth 4731 and appear to be serving matcha ice cream.
That is enough information for me to bookmark the booth.
The rest of the event map
All times below are local to Las Vegas.
Monday
Cyera’s Blazers, Bourbon & Bubbles Reception, 6 to 8 p.m. The event is currently at capacity, but I’m sure you know people who can get you in!
Glow Out Party, beginning at 8 p.m. at the House of Blues Courtyard. Mike Posner. The took a pill in Ibiza guy will be performing!
Tuesday
The Morning Burn, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.
Decibel GameDay at Libertine Social.
Black Hat USA Startup Spotlight, 11:05 a.m. to 12:10 p.m.
Secs on the Beach, 4 to 7 p.m. at the Tailgate Beach Club.
Global Startup Spotlight, 5:30 to 6:40 p.m. on the Main Stage in the Business Hall.
Sober Speakeasy, 7 to 9:30 p.m. at The Mob Museum. Mocktails, food, museum access, and zero pressure to drink.
GuidePoint’s Black Hat Party, 7 to 10 p.m. at Swingers inside Mandalay Bay.
The SecOps Sunset Social, 7:15 to 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday
The CISO Society Social, 4 to 8 p.m.
The Wurst Security Party, 6 to 9 p.m. at Hofbräuhaus.
Lockstep VC happy hour, 6 to 9 p.m.
CISO Roast, beginning at 7 p.m.
Legends of Cyber, 8 p.m. to midnight at House of Blues. John Watters and Kevin Mandia will sit down for a fireside chat before the live music begins.
Thursday
InnovatHERs breakfast, 7 to 9 a.m.
Bald at Black Hat - BALD: The Women-Only Drinks at Black Hat
The great Black Hat to DEF CON migration.
Where to find me
I will be in Vegas from Monday through Friday, mostly around Black Hat.
The easiest places to catch me will be:
The Monad meeting suite at the Four Seasons from Monday through Thursday
The Morning Burn on Tuesday morning
Decibel GameDay and both Startup Spotlight competitions on Tuesday
The SecOps Sunset Social on Tuesday evening
The Wurst Security Party on Wednesday
The CISO Roast on Wednesday night
You will not make every party, talk, dinner, booth, and meetup. Nobody does.
Pick a few things that matter to you, leave room between them, and protect enough energy to enjoy the people you came to see.
I’ll see you in Vegas…!
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